Shelly Parker-Chan has won The Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel for their work, She Who Became The Sun. The novel is an epic fantasy re-imagining of the story behind real-world historical figure, Zhu Yuanzhang, who defeated the Mongols and established the Ming Dynasty.

The Holdstock is one of many awards that forms The British Fantasy Award ceremony. Candidates are nominated by members of The British Fantasy Society, with a jury selecting the final winner.  The award ceremony was held as part of this year’s Fantasycon, the annual convention of The British Fantasy Society.

The Award itself was designed and produced by Morag Hickman.

The full list of awards and winners are as follows:

  • The Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer: Shelley Parker-Chan, for She Who Became the Sun (Tor)
  • Best Film/Television Production: Last Night in Soho
  • Best Non-Fiction: Writing the Uncanny, ed. Dan Coxon & Richard V. Hirst (Dead Ink)
  • Best Artist: Jenni Coutts
  • Best Comic/Graphic Novel: The Girl from the Sea, by Molly Knox Ostertag (Graphix)
  • Best Magazine/Periodical: Apex Magazine
  • Best Independent Press: Luna Press Publishing
  • Best Audio: Monstrous Agonies, by H.R. Owen
  • Best Anthology: Sinopticon: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction, ed. Xueting C. Ni (Solaris)
  • Best Short Fiction: Bathymetry, by Lorraine Wilson (in Strange Horizons)
  • Best Collection: Never Have I Ever, by Isabel Yap (Small Beer Press)
  • Best Novella: Defekt, by Nino Cipri (Tordotcom)
  • The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel: The Last House on Needless Street, by Catriona Ward (Viper Books)
  • The Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel: She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor)
  • The Karl Edward Wagner Special Award: Maureen Kincaid Speller


In addition, Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane received the  Legends of FantasyCon Award for their work for keeping UK conventions running. The Legends Award is granted by the convention itself, not the BFS.

More information about The British Fantasy Society, and future Fantasycon events can be found here.

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